The song was originally called "When I Was Young" and is listed as a track on "Fables of the Reconstruction", but was pulled at the last minute when the band realised it was no good. They then took it apart, kept the good bits and called it "I Believe", which Stipe took from a Mahalia Jackson gospel song.
The song is positive and upbeat, as were most of the songs the band were writing at that time (1986). The old cliches the narrator sincerely believes in, like "think of others" and "practice makes perfect", are bolstered by humourous asides about sore throats and old shirts. Ultimately, what does he believe in? "Change" as a positive force in life.
Interestingly, one of the best lines is the result of an accidental mis-reading. The first verse originally ended with "What do you do between the HOURS of the day", but when a friend read it as "HORNS" Stipe realised that was a much better image and kept it.
@darlomunday But Mahalia Jackson took it from the timeless Christian liturgy. I Believe = Credo in Church Latin, which refers to the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth....” Clearly Stipe believed in something else, but I have no doubt he knew he knew he was speaking in an ancient tradition.
@darlomunday But Mahalia Jackson took it from the timeless Christian liturgy. I Believe = Credo in Church Latin, which refers to the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth....” Clearly Stipe believed in something else, but I have no doubt he knew he knew he was speaking in an ancient tradition.
I think the song, rather than pointing out contradiction, embraces and celebrates paradox, as in the practice makes perfect line, true in each part and more so as a whole in its paradoxical glory. I always heard the final clause...
I think the song, rather than pointing out contradiction, embraces and celebrates paradox, as in the practice makes perfect line, true in each part and more so as a whole in its paradoxical glory. I always heard the final clause as “in fault lies change.” Perfection, purity, is the concern of many religions, and Stipe elegantly deconstructs and reclaims the conception as an article of faith in his idiosyncratic, highly personal existential creed, celebrating dynamism, flow, indeterminacy, individuality itself, claimed and created personal purpose.
With no disrespect to Christian believers, I profess the Stipe Creed. It electrified me the first time I heard it and still makes me tear up every time, forty years later.
The song was originally called "When I Was Young" and is listed as a track on "Fables of the Reconstruction", but was pulled at the last minute when the band realised it was no good. They then took it apart, kept the good bits and called it "I Believe", which Stipe took from a Mahalia Jackson gospel song.
The song is positive and upbeat, as were most of the songs the band were writing at that time (1986). The old cliches the narrator sincerely believes in, like "think of others" and "practice makes perfect", are bolstered by humourous asides about sore throats and old shirts. Ultimately, what does he believe in? "Change" as a positive force in life.
Interestingly, one of the best lines is the result of an accidental mis-reading. The first verse originally ended with "What do you do between the HOURS of the day", but when a friend read it as "HORNS" Stipe realised that was a much better image and kept it.
@darlomunday But Mahalia Jackson took it from the timeless Christian liturgy. I Believe = Credo in Church Latin, which refers to the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth....” Clearly Stipe believed in something else, but I have no doubt he knew he knew he was speaking in an ancient tradition.
@darlomunday But Mahalia Jackson took it from the timeless Christian liturgy. I Believe = Credo in Church Latin, which refers to the Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth....” Clearly Stipe believed in something else, but I have no doubt he knew he knew he was speaking in an ancient tradition.
I think the song, rather than pointing out contradiction, embraces and celebrates paradox, as in the practice makes perfect line, true in each part and more so as a whole in its paradoxical glory. I always heard the final clause...
I think the song, rather than pointing out contradiction, embraces and celebrates paradox, as in the practice makes perfect line, true in each part and more so as a whole in its paradoxical glory. I always heard the final clause as “in fault lies change.” Perfection, purity, is the concern of many religions, and Stipe elegantly deconstructs and reclaims the conception as an article of faith in his idiosyncratic, highly personal existential creed, celebrating dynamism, flow, indeterminacy, individuality itself, claimed and created personal purpose.
With no disrespect to Christian believers, I profess the Stipe Creed. It electrified me the first time I heard it and still makes me tear up every time, forty years later.